South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) has announced that it has signed a tentative accord on co-production with China in Seoul. The accord lays the groundwork for a Korea-China co-production treaty to be signed within the year.

The treaty if ratified will allow Korea-China co-productions to be acknowledged in China as local films and outside the 34-film-per-year profit-sharing import quota as well as the 30-film flat-rate import quota.

Korea-China co-productions recognized as Korean films will be able to benefit from Korea’s film policies such as the exhibition quota to show local films for a minimum of 73 days a year.

The two East Asian countries have been working towards a co-production treaty since August 2011.

MCST noted: “The Chinese market is the fastest growing in the world. In 2012, a total of 893 films were produced and brought in 470 million admissions. Box office gross is CNY17bn ($2.7bn) and they have over 14,000 screens.”

The ministry expects the treaty to create growth not only in film co-productions but also in film VFX and employment of staff and crews.

The plan is to have the agreement looked at by the administrations of both countries and signed by ministers within the year.

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